The torment inflicted on the Brown Dog was brought to light by Lind af Hageby and Leisa Schartau, two female physiology students and anti-vivisection activists. They began their journey as anti-vivisectionists when they visited the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1900 and were distressed by the vivisection they saw there. Once they returned back to Sweden, they joined the Nordic Anti-Vivisection Society. They then enrolled at the London School of Medicine for Women in 1902 to advance their anti-vivisectionist education and attended vivisections at University College London. (do we have an image of the the two students?)
In 1903, they published their diary ‘The Shambles of Science: Extracts from the Diary of Two Students of Physiology’, with a chapter titled ‘Fun’, which accused Wiliam Bayliss of having
vivisected a dog without adequate anaesthesia. Unfortunately, after Bayliss won the libel case, their publisher withdrew the diary and handed all remaining copies to Bayliss's lawyer. But
Hageby later republished it without the chapter titled ‘Fun’, and with a new chapter about the trial, printing a fifth edition by 1913. The reactions in the press to Shambles of Science revealed societal values openly: ‘Women with their presumed character and lower position in society may not testify in challenge to a profession formed by and for men. Women, including the authors, lack ability to make sound judgements. Their witness is 'hysterical'.’